One Love

Maybe it was from those Marley vibes infusing the air
all of us dancing and hopping around
after so long without live music,
or the fact that I was a beer and two shots in
that kept my face in place
when a man turned to tell me
he once stabbed a guy 15 times 
over stolen money, then asked, 

“Have you ever been to Providence?”

Guess I’ve just heard too much,
seen too much,
awash in daily bombings on TV,
gunfire on all channels,
privy to too many strange, sad stories 
because I didn’t flinch,
just listened,
played confessor,
then danced away.

Now, another mass shooting,
this term unknown to me as a girl,
and I wonder what providence we have left
here in this dream country,
this place so many still struggle to enter,
this “last best hope of earth.”

Karen Warinsky began publishing poetry in 2011 and was named as a finalist for her poem “Legacy” in the Montreal International Poetry Contest in 2013. Her work has appeared in several anthologies, books and lit mags/blogs, and she has participated in many online open mics including Rattle’s Poets Respond and Ó Bhéal. She has two books, Gold in Autumn (2020), and Sunrise Ruby, (2022), both from Human Error Publishing. Her work centers on mid-life, relationships, politics, and the search for spiritual connection through nature, and she coordinates poetry readings under the name Poets at Large. Find her at karenwarinskypoetry.wordpress.com